Hamburger and french fry cupcakes were a hit with customers at the Fort Myers Beer and Bacon Festival at Lee Civic Center on Saturday. The cupcakes were made by My Cupcake Insanity. Amanda Inscore/The News-Press

Gone are the days of chocolate cupcakes filled with white cream and slapped with a circle of fudge, sold in two packs at the gas station. Or the box-mix birthday cupcakes topped with plain white frosting and random rainbow sprinkles.

Today's cupcakes are creative works of art, filled with over-the-top flavor combinations that come with a two-bite commitment.

"With cupcakes, you can come in for a dinner party and get one of this, one of that. It's just so much easier," explained Amanda Buckner-Wood, chef and owner of Perfectly Scrumptious in Bonita Springs, as she piped salted caramel into gluten-free cupcakes. "You aren't tied down to a whole cake flavor."

It's that freedom that has taken what was thought to be a fad to a trend. And now it appears cupcakes are sticking around. They've become a common dessert option at weddings, banquets, baby showers and special events.

"People say to me all the time, 'how do you just sell cupcakes, isn't that a trend?'" said Buckner-Wood. "It's just getting more and more popular. Every season I am busier."

She started her cupcake company five years ago and, for the last two, has been in a storefront she shares with Handel's Homemade Ice Cream & Yogurt in Bonita Springs. In a small kitchen in the back, Buckner-Wood preps, bakes, fills and decorates her cupcakes, which are then displayed in cases on the counter in front of her bright pink and green walls.

The colors are her brand and many customers recognize her from local press and her appearance on Cupcake Wars Season 9, Episode 11. "It was the Match.com theme, so we had to pair men's favorite foods with women's favorite foods." She made jalapenos and wine for the first round, then key lime margarita, pancakes and bacon, and movie theater, which was a butter cupcake with M&M's baked inside with a chocolate salted buttercream and chocolate covered popcorn on top.

It's that creativity in a perfect portable size that has so many people — and bakers — hooked on cupcakes.

Amanda Ohneth, owner of Save Room for Dessert, has been creating cupcakes for more than two years, focusing on custom orders and special events. She began making cupcakes because they used the specific skill set she learned while pursing her degree in pastry arts.

"I really enjoyed plated desserts or individual desserts when I was going to school. Cakes that are decorated and gorgeous; that's a whole different skill set," Ohneth explained.

Much of her inspiration comes from the local beer and craft cocktail scene. "I really like to incorporate local flavors and think outside the box," she said. "I think the challenge behind beer and sweet is what really inspires me." One of her favorite cupcakes is the Mimosa: a citrus orange cake with champagne frosting topped with fresh orange zest and white chocolate. "It's perfect for brunch or bridal or baby showers."

From Amanda Ohneth at Save Room for Dessert, these mimosa cupcakes have champagne in the frosting.(Photo: special to news-press)

For St. Patrick's Day, Ohneth worked with Cape Coral Brewing Co. and used its coffee beer with chocolate ganache and beer in the frosting. "Using alcohol in the frosting gets more flavor," she said.

Ohneth currently creates her cupcakes in a production kitchen, but her goal is to have her own storefront, a common goal for most cupcakers who start in their own home.

Sheila Doublé started My Cupcake Insanity a year ago in her home kitchen and has watched her business grow quickly.

Her friends and family are her tasters, giving her honest feedback as she creates different flavors. "A few weeks ago I did a Key lime cupcake with toasted coconut frosting and graham crackers," she explained. She wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it became her second favorite after pistachio, which is topped with chocolate frosting.

Doublé pushes the creativity boundaries by making cupcakes that look like food. One of her most popular is the cheeseburger and french fries cupcake. "I don't even remember how it happened," she said. "I have this infatuation with cupcakes that look like food. I do barbecue grill cupcakes, I've done roast beef sandwich cupcakes, pot pie cupcakes. They are just different."

She dreams of having her own store one day, something Bess Charles made a reality two years ago when she opened LadyCakes in Cape Coral.

Charles started as a caker, baking out of her own home. "A lot of cakers enjoy doing cupcakes because we enjoy playing with flavors. And it turns out people really love cupcakes," she said.

She usually has 16 different flavors that rotate daily, except for her staples: salted caramel pretzel, death by chocolate and birthday cake. "The salted caramel pretzel was a big oops," Charles explained. "It was an experiment. By the time I was done, I had to go back and try to remember how I made it when it became one of our bestsellers."

Another one of her most popular cupcakes, Pregnant Lady's Delight, was created at the request of a customer. "We created a cake for a pregnant woman for her baby shower," she recalled. "She was craving peanut butter and strawberries, which was what I craved when I was pregnant." Charles made a chocolate cake with strawberry filling and peanut butter buttercream. "People are so grossed out by it until they try it."

The trying is a huge part of the reason why cupcakes are so popular and so fun for fans.

"There are endless varieties," Charles said. She recently visited Cape Cod and went to three different cupcake shops. "Every single one had different things...There are endless varieties. If you have a creative mind and make a really cool flavor, people will love it."

Besides creative flavors and portability, what is driving the popularity of cupcakes?

"Strictly TV," Charles said. "All these Cupcake Wars shows, and a few years ago, DC Cupcakes. I think shows like that really catapulted this whole cupcake phenomenon. I had two little girls who watched Cupcake Wars and wanted to come to a cupcake shop like they see on TV. We hear that all the time."

And Charles doesn't see cupcakes going away anytime soon.

"I think it might get bigger than it already is," she said, pointing out that Sprinkles now has cupcake ATMs in locations across the nation. "This all started with a couple little cupcake shops. But it's all about creativity and having fun. No one is wrong. You can't create a bad flavor."

And you can't have too many cupcakes.

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How I justify eating all of the cupcakes
Anne Reed/news-press.com

If you go

Want a cupcake (or six)? Check out one of these local sweet spots or order a few custom creations.

Creates: Cupcakes that resemble food, like her hamburger and french fry cupcakes.

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Hamburger and french fry cupcakes were a hit with customers at the Fort Myers Beer and Bacon Festival at Lee Civic Center on Saturday. The cupcakes were made by My Cupcake Insanity.(Photo: Amanda Inscore/The News-Press)